LOCKPORT – Paul S. Turley of Amherst rejected a plea offer Friday in Niagara County Court and was scheduled for trial Jan. 22 in connection with the alleged molestation of two girls between August 1996 and June 1998. Both of the alleged victims in the North Tonawanda incidents are now in their early 20s.
Turley, 47, of North Bailey Avenue, refused to plead guilty to the most serious count in the indictment, first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, with a maximum 25-year prison sentence. He faces up to 39 years if convicted as charged.
State law defines a course of sexual conduct as a set of at least two sex acts with the same person under age 11 during a period of more than three months. Turley is charged with first- and second-degree courses, as well as first-degree sexual abuse for an alleged incident with one of the girls on Christmas Day 2003. A misdemeanor charge stemming from that incident has been dismissed.
In 2006, the State Legislature abolished the statute of limitations on many sex crimes, and for those in which the five-year felony time limit still applies, the clock doesn’t start running until the complainant turns 18.
Turley, 47, of North Bailey Avenue, refused to plead guilty to the most serious count in the indictment, first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, with a maximum 25-year prison sentence. He faces up to 39 years if convicted as charged.
State law defines a course of sexual conduct as a set of at least two sex acts with the same person under age 11 during a period of more than three months. Turley is charged with first- and second-degree courses, as well as first-degree sexual abuse for an alleged incident with one of the girls on Christmas Day 2003. A misdemeanor charge stemming from that incident has been dismissed.
In 2006, the State Legislature abolished the statute of limitations on many sex crimes, and for those in which the five-year felony time limit still applies, the clock doesn’t start running until the complainant turns 18.